Follow today's live coverage of the Euro 2024 semi-final between England and the Netherlands

We have to discuss Harry Kane.

England are within the semi-finals of one other major tournament, yet their captain, leader, talisman, frontman and all-time biggest goalscorer looks about as agile as an arthritic scarecrow.

OK. That's harsh. He's scored two goals in five games to this point on the European Championships, the general performance against him has been mediocre to non-existent and it looks like he's having problems along with his fitness. But clearly there are questions that must be asked here.

Questions like: How fit is he really? What does he currently bring to the team? And is he now England's Cristiano Ronaldo?

In previous years, that last query would have been a lavish compliment, but in 2024 it borders on criticism – suggesting that Kane is staying within the team based on status alone and that his manager lacks the courage to make a difficult decision. But could that actually be true?

The query of fitness appears to be probably the most relevant as Kane, fit and in form, is undoubtedly the most effective strikers on this planet.

Well, he was fit enough to start out all of England's games on the Euros, playing 464 minutes, making two appearances and being substituted in three (seventieth minute against Denmark of their middle group match, a hundred and fifth minute against Slovakia within the round of 16 and 109th minute against Switzerland in Saturday's quarter-final).

He got here into the tournament with a back injury sustained towards the top of the club season at Bayern Munich. Then-head coach Thomas Tuchel described the injury as a “complete blockage”, which was an apt description of England's current attack. “It has gotten worse and is affecting him in everyday movements,” Tuchel said in May.

Kane has been receiving treatment from his personal medical team to get fit for the tournament. Despite starting all five matches, the attention test suggests he continues to be removed from one of the best performance he has achieved, the time when he can seamlessly and elegantly turn out to be a team's playmaker and finisher in a split second. At the moment, he doesn't seem able to doing that.

In the England shirt this summer, his movements have been awkward, clumsy and stunted (his posture almost seemed distorted when attempting a volley in the ultimate group game against Slovenia), his combination play has been weaker because of this and he lacks the ability and momentum to beat defenders and deliver balls and crosses into the box.

England head coach Gareth Southgate apparently tried to injure Kane to provide him an excuse to take him out of the sport when the 2 collided late in the sport against Switzerland (that's a joke, don't shout swear words at me within the comments), causing Kane to suffer cramps. But despite being substituted soon after, he says he can be fit for Wednesday's semi-final against the Netherlands.

“I'm fine. I was just tired,” said Kane, who turns 31 later this month. “I had a bit of cramp there. I tripped over the water bottles and got cramps in both calves. The boss obviously made a quick decision as Ivan (Toney, who came on for him) is a proven penalty taker. He came in and did his job.”

For Portugal, 39-year-old Ronaldo proved indispensable and almost irreplaceable on this tournament (he was substituted within the 66th minute against Georgia, but along with his team already within the knockout phase before this final group match and eight other substitutions made, one may wonder why he played in any respect), as they too were eliminated within the quarter-finals by France, also on penalties.

While Kane may not have Ronaldo's ego, he has the same status in England – a standing underlined by his 44 goals in 45 appearances for his latest club Bayern last season (while Ronaldo was, in fact, playing within the Saudi Pro League). But Southgate has proven over time that he’s greater than capable of constructing daring decisions, corresponding to leaving out Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount, Jack Grealish and two of his former favourites, Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson.

Not having Kane within the starting line-up on Wednesday can be a bombshell that might trump the entire above points combined.

It almost actually won't occur. But should it?

What was striking against Switzerland was how little Kane was involved in England’s build-up play.

Yes, he pulled the Swiss defence apart and yes, he went back to get the ball, but as this graphic of England's passing moves shows, Kane (you’ll find him near the centre circle) was clearly the underdog:

It just isn’t unusual for a team's centre-forward to not have a robust connection in these graphics, but it surely is telling how little Kane was involved in the sport against Switzerland.

In this respect, he resembled Ronaldo, who remained equally anonymous within the quarter-finals for Portugal on Friday:

Kane dropping deep is nothing latest – he has been doing it for years and with great success – but his low variety of touches within the opposition third against Switzerland is one other indication of his lack of accuracy:

He clearly drops deep at times, even into the full-back zone, and may get in the best way at times when England would surely be higher served with a more solid point of interest in attack, particularly when Kane's fitness levels are currently nowhere near what they typically are.

It can actually be argued that staying within the opposition's last line of defence is more helpful in pinning down the centre-backs and creating space between the lines for teammates corresponding to Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka to take advantage of – as in this instance against Denmark, where Foden and Bellingham can slip behind the midfield.

But if that’s to be Kane's principal task, there are other fitter and more energizing players within the squad who can tackle that role. And at the identical time they provide England more options by way of pressing and running.

“He will not drop Harry Kane,” former England international and now leading British pundit Gary Neville said of Southgate on Sky Sports after the sport against Switzerland. “He is one of his leaders, one of the greatest English footballers.rs we've ever had. There's no doubt he hasn't been at his absolute best in this tournament, but so has the team. The service to him hasn't been great.

“(Kane should) not sleep top, between the 2 centre-backs, after which drop back somewhat to try to attract the 2 centre-backs to enable runs back.

“He doesn't look like himself. He doesn't look as sharp when the ball is played to him, in and around the box. He doesn't seem to be able to get his touch and his shot like he normally would, but he won't be taken out of the squad unless he gets injured.”

Toney looked positive from the bench in each knockout games and Ollie Watkins can offer each Kane and Toney loads by way of pace, pressing and runs behind the defence, so there are arguments and debates.

Given Kane's status, his relationship with Southgate (he’s believed to have a sympathetic ear with the England manager and vice versa), his experience, temperament and obvious ability to attain goals, this point might be redundant, whether he’s 100 per cent fit or not.

There have been tournaments before which have been won by teams with ineffective strikers.

Portugal played with Ronaldo and Nani as shared strikers of their defensive-minded triumph at Euro 2016, France had a goalless Olivier Giroud as striker once they won the 2018 World Cup (he didn't even manage a single shot on goal despite playing in all seven games and starting six of them), and the very same thing happened with a lone, goalless striker Stephane Guivarc'h once they won the identical competition 20 years earlier.

The difference was that every one of those players were fit and made significant contributions to groups that, a minimum of in France's case, were still scoring goals.

But England have been slow to progress through games in Germany and haven’t looked prone to rating for long stretches. They lack momentum, their expected goals are low and so they depend on moments like Bellingham's overhead kick and Saka's perfect shot – the equalisers against Slovakia and Switzerland, which got here within the ninety fifth and eightieth minutes respectively and were England's first attempts on goal of the sport.

If these sentences don't read like a recipe for winning a tournament, they probably aren't.

England can have made it to the semi-finals, but to win the trophy in Berlin next Sunday, Kane will must be anywhere near his best. If he just isn’t, it might be sacrilege to say so, but they might probably be higher off with another person in attack, especially when the striker's principal job is to maintain the defence busy.

For a moment it looked as if Cristiano Ronaldo was near tears. But then suddenly he was at the tip. The floodgates had opened and he was crying. In front of a sold-out stadium in Frankfurt and an enormous television audience world wide, probably the most famous athlete on the earth burst into tears.

And there was still one game to win to secure a spot within the quarter-finals of the 2024 European Championship.

It was astonishing to look at. The Portuguese captain had endured one other frustrating evening, still chasing his first goal of the tournament, and now, having been given the prospect to interrupt Slovenia's resistance, he saw goalkeeper Jan Oblak brilliantly save a penalty. The tension and anguish that had been build up inside him suddenly boiled over.

Ronaldo had missed penalties before, sometimes under great pressure. He had cried on the pitch before: tears of sadness, tears of joy. But this time it was different since the game was not over. At 39, when he admits he will probably be playing in his last European Championship, he was not crying a few lost game but, it seemed, concerning the waning of his strength. They were the tears of a matinee idol who realises that he’s facing his final curtain call.

This time he looked so vulnerable, so fallible, so… human. As Portugal's players huddled together at half-time in beyond regular time, they looked up and saw a person who looked like a broken man. One by one, they tried to lift him up. His former Manchester United teammates Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot grabbed him as if to remind him who he was – who he still is. Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha and Manchester City defender Ruben Dias did the identical.

It was remarkable that Portugal coach Roberto Martinez left him on the sector under these circumstances. Ronaldo seemed finished, barely touching the ball for the remaining of beyond regular time as Slovenia looked to have a likelihood of winning for the primary time that night.

It went to penalties. What if Ronaldo had missed again?

He didn't. This time he hit his shot the opposite way, to Oblak's right, and looked immensely relieved when the web bulged. It took courage, but his response was not smug. It was not the time for his trademark celebration. Instead, he folded his hands apologetically in front of the Portuguese fans.

Within three minutes, Portugal's players and fans were celebrating the victory. Their goalkeeper Diogo Costa was the hero, saving all three of Slovenia's shots, while Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva converted their very own. It was a rare performance from Costa, who had also made a very important save against Slovenian striker Benjamin Sesko just before the tip of beyond regular time. Ronaldo, overwhelmed with relief, hugged him and thanked him.

“It was sad at first – and in the end it was joy,” the five-time Ballon d'Or winner told Portuguese TV station RTP afterwards. “That's how it is in football: inexplicable moments from the eighth to the 80th minute. That's what happened today. Did I have the chance to give the team the lead? I didn't manage it.”

He pointed to his penalty record over the course of the season – “I haven't failed once” – but deep down he must know that it's not only his penalties that will probably be under scrutiny at Euro 2024. Aside from penalty shootouts (because the record books all the time say), he has yet to attain in his 4 appearances on the tournament. Aside from a penalty against Ghana in Portugal's opening game of the 2022 World Cup, he has now gone eight appearances without scoring at a serious tournament.

Ronaldo scored 50 goals in 51 appearances in all competitions for Al Nassr last season. He also scored 10 goals in nine appearances in Euro 2024 qualifying, but half of those got here against Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. With an almost absurd record of 130 goals in 211 appearances, he’s the all-time top scorer in men's international football – however the highest-ranked teams he has scored against within the last three years are Switzerland (nineteenth), Qatar (thirty fifth), Slovakia (forty fifth) and the Republic of Ireland (sixtieth).

And yet he shoots so often. So many shots – 20 in total to this point this tournament, at the least seven greater than another player. So many promising attacks and dangerous free-kicks are sacrificed on the altar of complacency. There was one free-kick against Slovenia where, even in a stadium stuffed with diehard Ronaldo fans, he will need to have been the just one who thought he was going to attain. And sure enough, his shot sailed well past the far post.

Then there are the shots he can't take, because as impressive as his physique could also be, his acceleration, speed and power aren't quite what they once were. There was a moment in the primary half when Bernardo Silva cut in from the best wing and delivered what gave the impression of an exquisite cross to him on the far post. Ronaldo leapt high but couldn't reach it, and never for the primary time this tournament, it gave the impression of he would have wasted such a possibility at his best.

But his prime is long gone. Longer than he may think. He last won the Ballon d'Or in 2017, and even by then, on the age of 32, he had turn into a way more economical player than the unstoppable, indomitable force of his mid-twenties.

Some will say this tournament is simply too far for him, but something similar was said 18 months ago on the World Cup in Qatar, where he barely made an impression and eventually lost his place to Goncalo Ramos. Now it looks like two tournaments too far – or two tournaments where Ronaldo can be higher used as an option, perhaps sometimes in its place to swap places with Ramos or Diogo Jota, fairly than a hard and fast point around which all the things else must revolve.

It was almost surprising to listen to Ronaldo say within the mixed zone after the match that this could be his last European Championship. “But I'm not emotional,” he said. “I'm moved by everything that football means – the enthusiasm I feel for the game, the joy of seeing my fans and my family, the affection that people show me.”

“It's not about leaving the world of football. What else can I do or win? It won't be a matter of one point more or one point less. Making people happy is my biggest motivation.”

What is left for him to do or win? That didn't sound like Ronaldo, especially given the scenes we had seen earlier within the evening. Of course he's right – his legacy and his place among the many game's immortals were secured way back – but his response to the missed penalty was not that of somebody who feels proof against the pressure of getting to prove himself over and yet again.

“He is a role model for us,” said Martinez afterwards. “These emotions (after the missed penalty) were incredible. After his career and everything he has achieved, he doesn't have to worry about it too much. After he missed the penalty, he was the first to take the penalty (in the penalty shootout). I was sure he had to be the first and show us the way to victory. His reaction is exemplary and we are very proud.”

Nice words, but Martinez has an enormous decision to make before Portugal's quarter-final against France in Hamburg on Friday.

Over the years, Ronaldo has often acquired the flexibility to save lots of a team from the brink of defeat, but on Monday night he seemed beaten not only by Oblak's penalty save, but in addition by the one enemy that eventually catches up with every athlete: time.